Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with The Cleaning Lady’s Sean Lew

Sean Lew is a rising creative who is using his art to bring dynamic stories and characters to life on the stage and screen. The dancer-actor is currently starring in Fox’s critically-acclaimed series The Cleaning Lady.

The crime drama follows Thony De La Rosa, a whip-smart Cambodian doctor who comes to the U.S. for a medical treatment to save her son. But when the system fails and pushes her into hiding, she’ll use her wit and intelligence to fight back, breaking the law for all the right reasons.

Sean shines as Chris De La Rosa, a young man whose life is turned upside down after his mother reveals a shocking secret.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Sean about his multifaceted career and his breakout performance in The Cleaning Lady.

PC: How did you discover your passion for the arts and storytelling?
Sean: The only way that I was able to express and showcase who I was was through artistry and storytelling. I felt that without storytelling, dance, or acting, I wasn’t able to express myself. Ever since I was little, I always loved performing. Storytelling is the perfect medium for my love for performing and for expressing to the world who I want to be.

PC: Who or what has had the biggest influence on your career?
Sean: My biggest influences? It’s funny. I feel like I’ve never had a specific influence. I’ve been really influenced by the world. I know that might sound like, “Come on,” but I really have been influenced by the world. It’s so versatile and unique. Every once in a while, there’s a person or film or something happening that sparks something inside of you. You’re like, “Wow. I feel touched by that.”

Growing up as a dancer, I was very inspired by my mentors. I was lucky enough to have a lot of mentors that inspired me and who taught me to be the artist that I am now.

Watching different films like Step Up and West Side Story and all of these different plays and Broadway shows also sparked something inside of me. I wanted to be the person who created the feelings I got when I watched those performances. I wanted to make my mentors proud and do the industry proud.

PC: There are so many different facets to your talent. Does one come more naturally to you? Is one more challenging?
Sean: My whole life I’ve danced. Dance is in my blood. I breathe dance. But the crazy thing is that while I’ve danced my entire life I’ve always felt acting has come more naturally. I never specifically said, “I’m going to act and dance at the same time.” I was always like, “I can’t dance without acting.” When I say acting, I mean having some sort of intention, story, or background for me to understand before I dance. Being in dance to me is less about what I do with my body and more about utilizing my body to express what I want to say in my head.

I’m not the best with words. That’s why I’ve always found dance comforting and a safe place from which I can speak to the world. I feel that resonates with the world better than me just being like, “I’m sad. Check it out.” Acting has always been integrated in my life. I’ve just found more of a comfort in dance because I started with that first.

I wouldn’t say that I’m an actor when I dance, but I do have to put myself in a new mindset and become a new character when I’m dancing. That gives my dancing a purpose and an intention.

PC: You’ve had a lot of success already in your young career. When you look back, is there a moment that stands out to you?
Sean: It’s hard because like you said, there are different worlds. When I look back at my dance career, I think about when I did World of Dance with my partner. The whole process of competing on that show was life changing. It changed my way of seeing dance, even though I already had a unique perspective. That opened up opportunities to choreograph for other artists and created a stronger bond with my partner. It took our friendship to another dimension.

With acting, I will always remember auditioning for Avatar—the blue Avatar. I went through the entire process: swimming audition, language audition, script audition. It was the first big movie audition that I’d ever done. I got really far into it. I didn’t get it, but that entire experience allowed me to realize that there was so much to acting that I was missing in my life. That completely flipped my world. I wanted to commit to this. I want to be a part of this all the time. This is what I want to do forever. The audition itself was what completely changed my vision.

PC: Speaking of acting, you’re one of the stars of The Cleaning Lady. The series has been incredibly well received. What do you think is resonating most with audiences? What initially attracted you to the project?
Sean: The show is so brilliant from my perspective because of the way that it’s structured. Every single person involved in the show is what has made it so special. I remember telling my manager that I wanted to commit to acting this year. It was the beginning of 2020 or 2021. I was like, “I want to commit to this. Tell me anything that I need to do. I’m fully into it.” I got the audition and then we went further into it and then I got the part.

I was like, “You’re lying.” She was like, “No, you have to fly to New Mexico.” I was in complete disbelief. I was waiting for the call where they would say, “We made a mistake. We meant to hire someone else.” I was literally waiting for that call.

What makes this show so special, aside from the people, is that it’s a show that focuses on the Filipino culture, as well as other cultures. They’re all colliding in one show. I was just talking to Eva [De Dominici], who plays a wife of the mob. We were at the airport. She was like, “It’s so cool that they’re having Argentinian people in the main roles in the show.” I was like, “I know! It’s crazy to think about all these different cultures intertwined in one show.” It’s so interesting. I’ve never seen anything like this before. I’ve never had a feeling like this watching a show before.

At the end of the day, our show is about family. There are a lot of shows that are about family. But the way that this show is expressing and representing family is so unique and special. It allows the entire season to talk about the importance of family without being repetitive.

Family is the core of the show, but it’s not necessarily spoken outwardly every single second of an episode. There are so many elements of the show that I think make it so cool. I consider myself one of the luckiest people in the world to be a part of this.

P-C: There’s a big reveal regarding your character in the last episode. How is that going to affect Chris’ journey throughout the first season? How did you prepare to tackle that?
Sean: It’s funny because there’s a part of Chris that’s similar to my actual life as I was growing up. I’m not necessarily saying that my mom and I were fighting every day. But I know I had a bit of a teenager attitude when I was younger. When I was younger, I remember my parents pointing out the fact that I had an attitude. People laugh when I say “when I was younger” because I’m only twenty. But if I didn’t get something I wanted, I would always make this face. I remember that.

To tap into Chris, I tapped into that part of my life. I’m trying to live my life as a normal teenager, but it gets completely sidetracked and flipped the moment that my mom tells me that she’s been lying to me my whole life. Even Chris’ wardrobe is very Californian. I’m like, “Yo, look at me. I’ve got a skateboard shirt on. I love being a citizen of America.” Then my mom tells me that I’m an illegal and that I can’t do anything about it right now.

I’m like, “What? You’re going to do that to me?” What’s crazy is that that flip means there’s another storyline to be continued, which I think is really exciting. I’m interested to see what happens in terms of his development. There are so many different avenues that he can go on on the show. The same for his sister. It’s really cool to know that there’s one side of the show which is about the drama between Thony, the mob, and my mom. Then there’s a whole other story with our home life. There’s this collision between the siblings and our mom.

I find it really cool to watch. I feel a lot of teenagers can watch this. They’ll be like, “Dang, I’m lucky enough to be here.” I love that there are elements that make it relatable for a younger audience.

P-C: There’s this great chemistry that comes off the screen between you and the rest of the cast. How are you able to build that bond during a pandemic?
Sean: The relationship between the entire cast was like putting butter on a hot piece of toast. It just melted. It’s not just the cast but the entire crew. We’re a family. I remember in the first few days of being on set together, it just worked. The director had us play basketball as rehearsal. We were drawing pictures together and doing normal family things. We didn’t even have to try. We just did it and it all worked out.

I’m very close with the boys [Sebastien and Valentino LaSalle] too. They’re like my little brothers. The moment that the director yells action, we’re just saying our lines because we’re already in character. I don’t think I’ve ever been on a set where every person just feels like family to you. We all just understand each other. I don’t think I’ve ever been on a set where we’re all so close with each other.

The pandemic just adds a wall, but it wasn’t a problem. We went head in with each other.

PC: We’ve also seen on social media that you did a lot of cooking on set. Did you have a favorite meal that you like to make for the cast and crew?
Sean: [laughs] I love being on set. I love seeing people. I’ve also worked in the cooking industry. I understand how difficult and how labor-intensive it is to work in a catering company or to serve food in general. My immediate thought when I wasn’t working was to come up to them and be like, “Hey, do you need help? I have experience.”

I got really close with our vegan chef, who’s not even vegan! He just makes the vegan recipes and he loves to experiment. I always offered him recipes that I knew. He was like, “Yeah, let’s go shopping!” So any chance I got when I wasn’t working, I would cook for him. I always helped the team because they could use the help. It relieves them of that pressure, even if they needed help cleaning up and things like that. It’s so fun. I just love cooking for people and seeing them react and come back and say, “That was so good.”

I would definitely say that my favorite thing that I made them was a kimbap, which is a bibimbap in a sushi roll. Everyone was like, “I love sushi.” I made it with mushrooms, soy-glazed potatoes, and things like that. That was a lot of fun because I felt like I was working at Nobu. Everyone was coming by. I was telling everyone to come by. It was a lot of fun.

PC: This is also the longest that you’ve lived with a character. Has anything surprised you about the experience? What’s been the biggest lesson you’ve learned about your craft?
Sean: The most surprising thing that I’ve learned is the infinite directions that a storyline can go in. I’ve always wondered what would happen if Chris met the mob. What if he bumped into the mob? What would happen then?

It’s so incredible to be able to come onto set. It’s one of my favorite things ever. I always tell everyone on set that they can call me Chris. At the end of the day, I’m not Sean anymore. I want to be the person that I’m embodying. I get to take myself out of who I am and commit to being this new person.

That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. I’ve spent so much time being tired of being Sean. I can come back to Sean any time, but I want to be able to dedicate myself to someone else who I’m not familiar with. I get to look back and be like, “That’s not Sean.” I’ve had moments like that, but not in good ways. This is the first time that it’s in a good way. This is the first time where I can look at him and be like, “Wow. This is Chris.” I want people to be able to believe in Chris. I want people to see him and not Sean playing a character.

That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. I’m excited to see what happens with Chris and where his relationship with his mom goes and even his relationship with his sister. We’ve always been very tight, but we also have a little head clash. It can go anywhere. That’s the cool thing about being a part of a project and character like this.

To keep up with Sean, follow him on Instagram. Watch The Cleaning Lady every Monday at 9/8c on Fox.